Toy Soldiers
by I.C. Weener
Summary: Today on Sailor Moon we learn about deep planetary drilling.


" _So hard to construct the perfect doll. Sometimes you have to use existing parts."_

\- Night of the Living Dummy

" _DY DY DY DY DYNAMAN."_

\- Koorogi '73

* * *

The planets were getting realigned in the Blue Room. The lab was illuminated by azure floodlights hanging from the ceiling. The shaded silhouettes of five emotionless Sailor Soldiers stood in single file in a chamber of droning electrical turbines and boiling industrial furnaces barely visible in the dim blue glare.

A Daimon named Princess Richelle closely watched over the Sailor Soldiers as they were attended to in orderly fashion. She had icy blue skin with a nearly human complexion and large slimy blue moth wings. She wore a long blue dress with living frills that glistened like sapphires and quivered with legions of dripping creepy crawlies. She was responsible for making sure these space cows wound up properly domesticated.

This shady and squiggly predicament began when the Sailor Soldiers tried to break into the Death Busters' headquarters to end their evil schemes once and for all. The team of heroines got as far as the grimy spawning pools in the building's basement caverns before Princess Richelle and her pet monstrosity Vaniri arrived to block their way. The two monsters had been created as base guards using one of Viluy's special formulas.

The Sailor Soldiers fought while they were wading knee high in murky water. Richelle stood back and let her 50-foot-long millipede take care of the unwelcome invaders. It was fat with millions of infant leeches squirming in its armor plating, and it seemed impervious to every physical and magical attack thrown at it.

After a grueling and exhausting struggle, the ten Sailor Soldiers managed to finally defeat the larger Daimon by standing beneath it and focusing all of their attacks its exposed wiggling underside. But as it died, it collapsed into the water on top of them and expelled the larvae from its body in its violent death throes.

The Soldiers who only had to deal with the disgusting swarms of leeches clinging to their drenched Sailor Suits were the lucky ones. Moon, Chibi Moon, Mercury, Uranus, and Saturn frantically brushed the tiny creatures off as they struggled out of the pool in embarrassment.

The less lucky Sailor Soldiers wound up with leeches landing near their ears and quickly slithering inside. Once any one of the beasts managed to borrow past the eardrum, they were on a one-way course toward the human brain. Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto thrashed in the dingy water and convulsed on Vaniri's oozing blue chitin as they grasped their heads screaming in torment.

Princess Richelle abducted the infected Sailor Soldiers and rushed them back to the Daimon labs for critical care by pointing at each one and making her disappear in a puff of blue pixie vapor. The five demoralized others had no choice but to flee and regroup. They were still picking leeches out of their ribbons as they ran home.

The minds of the five captured Sailor Soldiers had been slowly festering with Daimon influence ever since.

The process for treating an infected Sailor Soldier was quick and coldly automated. Once it was her turn in line and she quietly stepped into position, metal rings would lock around her waist. Hydraulic restraints passed through her underarms and locked around her chest. A support shield pressed against the decorative ribbon on her backside. Once all the harnesses were in place, therapy began.

A mechanical nightmare of a headdress would lower from the ceiling and glide over the Sailor Soldier's forehead. It was comprised of a pair of lens flashing kaleidoscope patterns, ear muffs broadcasting a mind-soothing dull hum, a two-pronged gas tube that tucked under the nose and released growth pheromones through the sinuses, and a convoluted mess of wires and needles that stabbed and prodded across the scalp. Every component was devoted to helping the alien leech in the Sailor Soldier's head grow stronger and slowly gain complete control over her. The intense rays of Daimon energy encouraged the little parasite to consume more of its host's thoughts and innermost feelings until all of it was gone.

Each Sailor Soldier was queued for her daily round of brain-blasting. They shared identical blank, calm expressions as they waited one behind the other. The host body would go limp and jiggle lightly in the 30-second interval while the parasite in her brain was being stimulated, necessitating all of the harnesses that helped her stay standing. Once the process was finished, all the equipment was swiftly lifted off with mechanical levers. The Sailor Soldier walked away with a small renewed smirk on her lips so the next could step into place. All five were processed in the same fashion, one after the other as if they were in an assembly line.

They were mostly obedient as they waited their turn. A nervous twitch in Venus's arm or a small spasm in Neptune's thigh were the only signs of a host's consciousness still trying to hold out. The tremors would be alleviated as soon as the Sailor Soldier was released from her harness and walked away, and the signs of mental resistance were returning less and less frequently. The leeches had been feasting on their minds for several days and were almost pupated to maturity. When their time came, the tiny infantile crawling Daimons would evolve into beautiful butterflies. Rather than leaving the warm confines of their host's cranium and flying off, however, they would spread their wings downward and fully envelope the entire brain, establishing a permanent stronghold over every aspect of the host's thoughts and physical functions. Any infected Sailor Soldier who reached this stage would be beyond all hope, reduced to a zombified Sailor Suited slave for as long as she lived.

Richelle smiled amusingly toward her five docile and emotionless subjects. It seemed appropriate how Sailor Soldiers already came gift-wrapped with bows.

When the therapy requirements were complete and the patients were lined up side by side like rigid statues, Princess Richelle gracefully walked down the line to perform her typical inspection. She smiled at Venus, Pluto, and Neptune as she passed by them individually, and each other looked back at her with empty and distant stares of obedience.

Curious to examine her subjects a little more in-depth, Richelle stopped in front of Sailor Jupiter. She slowly reached her arm behind the motionless Sailor's miniskirt and let her pale blue fingers disappear underneath. They discreetly traced the crescent boundary where lowest part of Jupiter's white leotard stopped and became the warm pink of her plump bottom cheek, carefully tickling the soft impression created by the formfitting elastic edge. These planets were worthless to the Death Busters if their surfaces couldn't be safely explored.

Jupiter remained in her expected orbit with her face blankly staring straight forward. She showed no reaction whatsoever, just as the Princess liked. Richelle continued on to Mars at the end of the lineup and offered her some different scientific prodding with the same promising results.

The imprisoned heroines were being kept on a strict schedule of training, mental stimulation, training, mental stimulation, training, and mental stimulation. They were being sculpted into the perfect team of living weapons. Five Sailor Soldiers serving under the Death Busters to combat the five who remained loyal to Earth.

* * *

Kaolinite was sitting at her desk jotting research notes and evil arcane runes on a legal pad. Unholy darkness and soft ambient tropical music playing from a cheap mono radio surrounded her. The note board on the wall behind her was pinned with Missing Person clippings for Hino Rei, Aino Minako, Kaiou Michiru, Kino Makoto, Kata Yumiko, and Meiou Setsuna.

A phone rang on the desk beside her. She picked it up and calmly propped the receiver on her shoulder as she continued writing. She didn't say anything until the caller identified themself.

"Richelle. I haven't heard from you down there in a while. How's the progress on those cattle coming along?" Kaolinite asked with a flat, formalized voice. She brushed the tip of her thumb across her other four nails as she listened to the response.

"Really?" she asked into the receiver with reserved amusement. "Did you get the last of the kinks worked out of that rowdy one?"

Her eyes shifted from one side to the other as she heard the answer.

"I'll pass the good news to the Professor. I think it's time we let our new pets out of their cage."

Kaolinite put the phone back on its stand and sighed under her breath.

* * *

The remaining Sailor Soldiers were in for an unpleasant surprise the next time they ran into the Death Busters. It was close to midnight and the normally peaceful moon cast a strange pale glow over the roof of a Tokyo skyscraper.

Sailor Moon's group stood on one side of the tarmac frozen in shock and blinking in the disbelief. Princess Richelle's group was on the other side posing in a sly and deceptive formation. Their colorful Sailor Suits made them an unmistakable sight in the dark moonlight.

Jupiter and Neptune were lounging in front. Pluto and Mars were crouching behind them poised for action. Venus stood in the center with her arms crossed. They all shared the same twisted Daimon smile. Their eyes had lost their gentle human charm and were now five sets of identical blank soulless ovals glowing bright blue. Elegant bows and miniskirts closely hugged the contours of their bodies as hideous Daimon parasites closely hugged the ridges of their brains.

Princess Richelle loomed behind the dark side of Venus smiling. She tenderly petted the Sailor Soldier on the shoulder as she fluttered her slimy cerulean wings.

"Rei! Makoto! Minako! What's wrong with all of you?" Sailor Moon asked in fright. They answered with nothing but their demented grins.

"Now, my beautiful babies," Richelle giggled ominously, "Destroy these empty-headed Earth pests."

The Daimon shook out the squirming blue ruffles of her dress sleeve and pointed toward Sailor Moon's team. Her infested servants instantly jumped into the offensive and unleashed a hail of magical power. Venus charged at Moon. Pluto charged at Chibi Moon. Mars charged at Mercury. Neptune charged at Uranus. Jupiter flew straight into the orbit of Saturn.

It was a battle between forces so great they would rip the solar system in half.

* * *

 _Author's note: Chibiusa is immune to being brain spored due to already being an infectious spore herself._

 _Author's note 2: Maybe I should write a story where the villain is like Sinistar except instead of eating asteroids he eats Sailor Senshis._


End file.
